West Bengal bypolls: 7 candidates have serious criminal cases, another 7 are crorepatis

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Seven out of the 41 candidates contesting the West Bengal Assembly bypolls have serious criminal cases pending against them, while another seven are crorepatis, according to an analysis of their affidavits.

The bypolls are set to take place in Coochbehar Sitai (SC), Haroa, Naihati, Medinipur, Taldangra, and Madarihat (ST) on November 13.

The West Bengal Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 41 out of the 42 candidates.

The affidavit of Pankaj Lohra, an independent candidate contesting from Madarihat (ST), could not be analysed due to the unavailability of his complete and properly scanned documents on the Election Commission website.

The BJP has four candidates with serious criminal cases, Trinamool Congress (2) and Congress (1).

Serious criminal cases include offences for which the maximum punishment is five years or more, non-bailable offences, electoral offences, and crimes related to financial loss to the exchequer.

They also cover assault-related offences, murder, kidnapping, rape, and violations under the Prevention of Corruption Act or crimes against women.

The party having the highest number of crorepatis is Congress (3) followed by the BJP (2), while the CPIM(L) and the TMC have one candidate each, the analysis stated.

TMC's Sanat Dey (Naihati) is the richest candidate with wealth totalling Rs 4,90,97,914, including immovable assets of Rs 1,80,00,000.

He is followed by BJP's Ananya Roy Chakraborty (Taldangra) with assets totalling Rs 2,98,59,287, and TMC's Shyamal Kumar Ghosh (Medinipur) Rs 1,69,43,060. The average asset value of a candidate is Rs 58.14 lakh, according to their affidavits, it said.

Kashikanta Barman, Kamatapur Peoples Party (United) candidate from Coochbehar Sitai (SC), has the lowest declared assets, amounting to just Rs 5,000, according to the analysis.